Conventional 3D computed tomography (CT) x-ray scanning systems are large, fixed-bore devices that are typically located in the radiology department of a hospital or other medical facility. In a typical device, the patient is loaded into the bore through the front or rear of the device, and a rotatable component, such as a large drum to which imaging components are secured, is rotated around the patient to collect imaging data. The collected imaging data is exported off of the rotating portion, such as via a cable or slip ring system, to an external computer or workstation, where the collected data may be processed using a suitable tomographic algorithm to produce a three-dimensional tomographic reconstruction of a region of interest of the patient.